Off-Panel: Deadpool Is a Hufflepuff

Welcome to Off-Panel, your weekly digest of comics news, from the gutters and beyond.

He’s unafraid to tackle difficult topics and show “the ugly side of his characters,” adds his closest friend and fellow comic book writer Scott Snyder. Lemire’s turn on Moon Knight will feature an ambitious examination of mental illness. And he’s twice touched on the treatment of Aboriginal peoples, through Roughneck and Equinox, the Cree hero he created for DC’s Justice League United. “Jeff’s writing is extremely intimate,” argues Snyder. “Everything is lodged in character; that’s the propulsive force of his plots.”

Fun fact: I’m the colorist for that story and originally made him a gryffindor. We went back and forth on a couple rounds of corrections and the editors insisted hufflepuff. That isn’t a casual joke. That’s deliberate deadpool cannon.

I realize that I have never read a Frank Miller book with an original female character who didn’t fall into two categories: sex worker — or victim of a brutal beating or murder. Even the first female Robin gets sliced up by a bad guy in the climax of The Dark Knight Strikes Again. Come to think of it, Miller also seems to enjoy characterizing his extra-creepy male villains as having ambiguous sexuality or gender. You’re not threatening, it seems, until you’re sexually threatening to a straight guy.

While Marvel Comics’ diversity as a whole isn’t up to par with women creators and creators of color, the success of Ms. Marvel sets an example that hasn’t been seen in years with a diverse creative team, a diverse lead character, and diverse stories.